SpaceSaturn's G ring understood

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

After studying images taken by Cassini over the last two years, researchers may have identified the source of Saturn’s G ring. The ring is likely produced by large, icy particles that reside within a bright arc (seen in the image) on the ring’s inner edge, Matthew Hedman of Cornell University in New York and colleagues reported Aug. 2 in Science. The icy particles, which appear to range in diameter from centimeters to a meter, may be driven outward from the arc by electromagnetic forces, the researchers reported.